Gold-separator.



N NN kN Nm E; RUSSE.

GOLD SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION I'ILBD JUNE 30, 1908.

E. P. RUSSE. GOLD SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1908.

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ttomena @Vi twaomzo ANDREW. a Gamm ou. PworuuTmnmma. wnswnown. l1 c.

, E. P. BUSSE.

GOLD SEPABATOR. APPLICATION FILED JUNE ao, 1908.

93 l ,842. Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ANDREW. E. GRAHAM ca.. Puomumoummss. Msn union b c E. F. BUSSE. GOLD SBPARATOR. APPLICATION FILED JUNE so, 1908.

Patented Aug. 24. 1909.

"4 SHEETS-SHEBT 4.

mmsw. B. GRAHAM co.. Pncm-umonmwns, wAsmNuYon. D. c.

sirarns Partitur onirica EMIL F. ABULSSE, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

GOLD1SEPARATOR.

To all whom. t may concern:

Zen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the .county .of Los Angeles and vState of California, have invented a new and useful Gold-Separator, .of which the following is .a specification.

This invention relates to gold separators, and more particularly .to machines for use in the dry separation of placer gold and gravel.

The obj-ect .of the invention is to provide a machine .of this character in which all moisture may be driven from the material supplied thereto prior .to the separating process.

Another object is to provide a cradle or rtllle box designed to receive products Vof `combustion from the .drier so that the .drying operation ycan be completed while the val-ues .and the `ore are passing .over .the rifiles in the box.

A further object is to provide sitinple ineans for grinding vand pulverizing the `ore .and values after .they have passed through the ritiles.

A still further object is to provide ,simple mea-ns for grading the values after leaving the riflle box, the various grades being deposited upon separating plates positioned to receive them.

Another object Vis to provide a `conveyer designed lto receive the tailings .and which is so niountedas .to additionally separate the values from the gravel and other ruseless material, there being means provided for .collecting the values from the conveyer subsequent to the discharge `of the valueless material ,as tailings.

lilith these iand .other .objects rin view the invention .consists of `certain novel features I.of construction and combination of parts which will be hereinafter more fully Adescribed and pointed out in the claims.

In xthe accompanying `draw-ings is shown .the preferred forni .of the invention.

In :said .drawings-Figure l a side elevation .of the complete machine, portions ythereof bein-g broken away to show the i11- terior of .the engine house .and the riflle box. Fig. 9. is .a .plan view of the machine with pants .broken away.. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vside .elevation .of .the riiile box screens Vand amalgam plates, together with the adjoining mechanism for V.ac t.u.atin,.g; the saine, a

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed .Tune 30, 1908.

Patented Aug. 24, 190.9.

Serial N o. 441,109.

l portion of the screen box and riftle box being Be it Vknown that I, EMIL F. BUssE, a .citibroken away. Fig. l is a view, partly in section and partly in plan, of the parts shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is ,a vertical longitudinal section through the feed hopper and the tire box combined therewith. Fig. 6 is .a detail view of one end portion of a riflle.. Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the entire platecarrying frame and the parts thereunder the plates being shown in section and secured in position. Fig. 8 is a Side elevation of the hinged support shown iin Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the .driving pitman and eccentric and one of the hinged supports.. Fig. l0 is a detail view of one .of the conveyer supporting rollers. Fig. l1 is a similar view of another roller einployed for supporting the conveyer. Fig. 12. is acentral longitudinal section through the mille-box', portions thereof being re moved. Fig. 13 is a transverse section through the riiiie-box.

l designates the base or platform of the machine mounted on ordinary car wheels 2 designed to travel upon a track, and as shown in Fig. l this base or platform is preferably jacked at the center, ,as shown ,at 2f, when the machine is in use. Aarranged .upon the platform near its lforward 'end is a shed 3 in which the motor 4L of the machine is located, and a mast 5 is preferably disposed adjacent this shed and has bracing guys 6 and 7 extending from vthe top thereof, the guys 6 being secured .to the middle portion of the base while the guys 7 `extend to the upper portion of an inclined conveyer frame 8 extending beyond the base l. Journaled upon this frame are parallel transversely-extending rollers 9 and l0, preferably spaced apart at regular intervals, the rollers 9 being provided with convex bearing surfaces, as indicated in Fig. 10 while ,the bearing surfaces of the rollers 10 are concaved as shown in Fig. l1. rhese two forms of rollers .are arranged alternately and are disposed not only upon the inclined frame S but are also arranged upon the'base l for agreater portion of the length thereof. Mounted .on these rollers is an endless belt or conveyer 11, the upper ply of which, by reason of the peculiar contour and arrange ment of the rollers is waved. This belt or conveyer receives its motion from the up 3er roller on frame A, the shaft 12 of said roller having a pulley 13 which receives motion through a belt 14 from another pulley 15 secured to a shaft 16. This shaft is journaled on a frame 17 mounted upon the central p0rtion of the base 1, and a sprocket 18 is secured to the shaft and is designed to receive motion through a chain 19 from a sprocket 20 secured to a shaft 21 which is journaled in the frame 17 belowthe shaft 16.4 The shaft 21 has a fly wheel 22 at each end thereof and a gear 23 is secured to the shaft 21 and meshes with a gear 24 secured to a shaft 25 and which in turn meshes with a gear 26 which is loosely mounted on a shaft 27. A friction clutch 28 is arranged upon the shaft 27 and is designed to be shifted, as by means of a lever' 29, into engagement with the gear 26 so as to couple said gear to the shaft 27. A pulley 30 is secured to this shaft and receives motion through a belt 31 from the motor4 hereinbefore referred to.

Extending transversely upon the upper portion of frame 17 are shafts 32 on which are mounted hangers 33 which extend downward within the frame 17 and support the ritfle box 34, which box is designed to oscillate with the hangers, as will be hereinafter set forth. The cover 35 of t-he rittle box is fixedly connected to the frame 17 by means of an angular cross brace 36 located adjacent the center thereof, and by means of bolts 37 engaging one end portion of the cover. This cover has hinged closures 38 thereon, which when opened permit access to be readily had to the material in the riflle box. lThe cover projects into the open top of the riliie box a suiiieient distance to maintain the top closed at all times during the oscillation of t-he box. 1n F ig. 3 the cover is shown as projecting a short distance above the riftle box.

The riliie box is provided at a suitable distance from the bottom thereof with a series of metallic riflles 39 each formed with a metal strip folded longitudinally to form a long inclined wall 40 and a short almost perpendicular wall 41, the wall 40 being provided with a number of apertures F langes 43 are provided at the ends of the riffles and are designed to be riveted or otherwise fastened to the sides of the box. The riilies are spaced apart a short dist-ance so as to form narrow slots therebetween, preferably about one-fourth or three-eighths of an inch in width. The space between the rililes and the bottom of the rittle box contains a number of balls 44, preferably of steel, designed to roll loosely over the bottom of the box. A transverse outlet slot 45 is formed in the bottoni of. the box at the center thereof, and arranged thereover a transversely-extending angle iron 46 which serves to keep the balls away from the outlet slot and also keeps the two sets of balls spaced apart at all times. This is clearly indicated in Fig. 3. A pitman 47 connects each side of the rifl'le box 34 with one of the wheels 22 so that when one of these Wheels is rotated an oscillating movement will be imparted to this box, this movement, however, being at no time sullicient to entirely remove the cover 35 from between the sides of the box. As shown in lfig. 3, the ril'lle box is closed at its ends between the bottom thereof and the rillles, there being end walls 48 provided for this purpose.

Supported within the lower portion of the frame 17 are cross beams 49, 50 and 51 the upper faces of which are at different elevations and secured -upon the central portion of each of these beams is a bed plate 52 having channeled rails 53 secured thereon, said rails being parallel. `Within each of these channeled rails is mounted a series of antifriction devices, preferably in the form of rollers 54, and the ends of each channeled rail are closed by means of heads 55 or in any other suitable manner. Slidably mounted within each of the channeled rails and upon the anti-friction devices is a runner 56, the two runners of each pair being connected by a cross plate 57 and both runners being retained Within the rails by angular retaining strips 58 bolted or otherwise secured to the rails and projecting into longitudinal recesses 59 within the slides. Secured upon the middle portion of each connecting plate- 57 is an upstanding ear 60 projecting between spaced ears 61 depending from a plate 62 which is bolted or otherwise secured to a longitudinal beam 63. The ears and 61 are connected by means of a pivot pin 64.

inasmuch as the slides and the hingedly connected ears supported thereby are at different elevations it will be obvious that the beam 63 heretofore referred to, and which is secured to all of the plates 62, is necessarily inclined. This beam is secured longitudinally within the bottom portion of an inclined holding frame 65 having superposed cleats 66 therein on which are mounted amalgamating plates 67. The various cleats and plates are held firmly together by means of filling strips 68 arranged upon the upper plate 67 and lapped by a retaining plate 69 bolted or otherwise fastened to the sides of the frame 65. Reinforcing bolts 70 may be extended transversely through the end portions of the frame 65 indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7. Springs 71 are connected to opposite sides of the frame 65 and also to the bottoni portion of frame 17 and serve to hold the frame 65 with its sides normally at the same elevation. The plates 67 are of different lengths, the lower plate being shorter than the succeeding upper plates and all of said plates discharging at their lower ends onto the belt 11 heretoforefreferred to.

Secured'upon the upper end portion of eens/12 the frame is a screen box 72 the bottom of which terminates above the upper plate 67 as indicated at 73 and arranged within this box and above the bottom 73 is a series of inclined screens 7 l and 75, the lower screen. 75 being of a finer mesh than the upper screen 7st and said upper screen being longer than the lower one and designed to discharge tailings onto the lower plate 67. The lower screen 75, however, is designed to discharge tailings onto the middle plate 67. As shown particularly in F ig. 3 these two plates are corrugated transversely. The upper plate, however, is smooth throughout its extent and is designed -to receive tailings from the bottoni 73 of the screen box. Moreover, ar-

anged longitudinally along the side edges of the upper plate ('57 and adjacent the upper surface thereof are air distributing pipes 7 0 designed to be supplied with compressed air from any suitable source through a exible hose 77 and each pipe is provided with jet openings or nozzles 78 designed to direct currents of air downwardly and rearwardly` upon the upper plate 67 and toward the cenw ter thereof. A. suitable covering 79 preferably of canvas is secured across the top of frame G5 in any suitable manner as by means of straps 80. The screen box 72 is closed at the top in any preferred manner and has an opening' 81 disposed at all times below a hopper 82 carried by the riflle box 3ft below the outlet opening 45. It will be apparent therefore that all material discharged through the opening 45 will be directed into the upper screen 7 e.

A shaft 83 is journaled under the upper end portion of the frame G5 and has an eccentric 84 thereon designed to drive a rod 85 pivotally connected to an ear 8G. rlhis ear formed with a plate 87 which is bolted or otherwise secured preferably to the middle connecting plate A wheel 88 is also secured to shaft 83 and has a wrist pin 89 thereon on which is mounted a pitman 90. This pitman is connected by means of a universal oint 91 wi th one side of the frame 05 softhatduring the rotation of the wheel 88 thepitinan ttlwill operate to raise and lower one side of frame (i5 and thus produce a transverse rocking movement of said frame and of the screen box 72. Shaft 83 is preferably provided with a xed pulley 92 and a loose pulley 93 on either of which a belt 94 may be i'nounted. This belt is driven by a pulley 95 on shaft 27 and a suitable belt shifter may be provided for shifting the belt onto either of the pulleys 92 and 93. In

Fig. Ll, the belt shifter has been shown constructed of an arm 90 having an eye 97 in which the bolt is mounted. This" arm is pivotally connected to a bell crank lever 98 having an actuating bar 99 pivoted to it and extending close to lever 29.

Arranged upon the end portion of the base 1 are supports 100 on which is fixedly mounted the drier casing 101. This casing has a grate 102 in the bottom thereof and a spout 103 extends from one wall of the casing and into the feed end of the rit'rie box. Said casing may be suitably lined and has a door 10st at the bach thereof whereby access may be readily had to its interior. The top of the casing is closed by a trough 105 which is movably supported in an inclined position by means of hangers 100. The top of this trough is preferably closed as shown at 107 and the outlet end of the trough extends beyond the spout 10e and opens into the inlet end of the riflie box. it. hopper 108 is mounted upon the top of the trough and is designed to receive the material to be treated by the apparatus. One of the hangers 100 at each side of the troughextends below its point of connection with the trough and has a pitman 109 attached to it, said pitman extending' to one side of the ri'llie box Si and being pivotally connected to it as shown at 110 in F ig. 1.

An inclined chute 111 has its upper end disposed below the discharge end of the riiile box 34 and this chute extends downward in front of the frame 05 and the screen box 72 and is designed to direct tailings from the riffle box and onto the belt 11.

In using the machine herein described a fire is first started within the chute box 101 and the gravel or other value bearing material to be treated is then placed within hopper 108 and is thus fed by gravity to the trough 105. Obviously the heat generated within the casing 101 will drive the greater portion, if not all, of the moisture contained within the material in the trough. The mechanism is set in motion by shifting the clutch 28 so as to place the drive pulley 30 and drive shaft 27 into operative relation with the small drive gear 20. The wheels 22 will therefore be rotated by means of the gears described and motion will be transmitted by the chain and sprockets to belt 1i which in turn drives the endless couveyer 11. lVhen the wheels 20 rotate they actuate the pitman 47 so -as to oscillate the rifle box 34, this oscillation being permit-ted in view of the fact that the hangers 33 are pivotally supported and are pivotally connected at their lower ends to the rittle box. As the ritiie box swings backward and forward motion is transmitted therefrom through the pitmen 109 to the hangers 10G and trough 105, thus causing the trough to oscillate. The dried material within the trough will thus be caused 'to move therefrom and into the feed end of the riffle box. The material will drop upon the rillles and the larger particles of mate-rial will be carried t-hereover while the smaller particles will be directed through the openings l2 in the rifiles and through the slots formed between the rities. The tailings from the riile box will be directed by the inclined chute 111 onto the belt 11 while that portion of the material dropping below the rifles will be ground or reduced by the loosely mounted balls 44, which obviously move indiscriminately over the bottom of the riftle box during the oscillation thereof. rIhe movement of the box will direct the material on the bottom thereof toward the outlet slot l5 through which it will drop into hopper 82 and thence to the screen box 72. This screen box and the frame 65 thereunderl is given a transversely oscillating movement by the pitman 90 and wheel 88 heretofore referred to and is at the same time reciprocated longitudinally by eccentric Sa and rod 85, the shaft 83 on which the eccentric 84 and Wheel 88 are mounted being driven through belt 94 from shaft 27. lt will be seen therefore that when the material is discharged into the screen box and onto the upper screen the longitudinal reciprocation and the transverse oscillation produced will so agitate the contents of box 72 as to cause the larger particles of material to travel over the upper screen 74 and to drop therefrom onto the lower amalgamating plate G7. The second grade of material will pass through screen 74 and onto the screen 7 5 and be directed as tailings onto the upper corrugated plate 67. The finer'particles will pass through both screens and onto the bottom of the screen box and be directed thereby onto the upper smooth plate 67. 1n passing over these plates the values will become amalgamated and the treatment of the values upon the upper plate is facilitated by the jets of air discharged thereacross. Should any portions of the values leave the ends of the plates G7 without becoming amalgamated they will drop onto the belt 11 with the gravel and other waste material.

The belt 11 conveys tailings from the plates 67 and the riflie box up to the end of the inclined frame 8 from which they are discharged as a waste product. Inasmuch as the belt is mounted upon concave and convex rollers, however, the material upon the belt will be given a lateral waved motion so that should any light and valuable products be commingled with the tailings they will be separated therefrom and cling to the liber of the canvas belt and become seated in the minute cells formed in the belt by the interwoven threads constituting said belt. These clinging particles will be carried around the upper shaft 12 and above an inolined board 112 arranged beneath the frame S and the lower end of which terminates above a receptacle 113 carried by the base 1. rllhe valuable particles thus clinging to the belts will be conveyed to the receptacle 113 and if necessary any suitable means, not shown, may be used for brushing or otherwise removing said particles from the belt when they reach the receptacle 113.

lt will of course be apparent that the products of combustion after leaving the iire boxwill enter the rifHe box and thus complete the drying of the material being treated.

lt is to be understood that the shaft 27 may be a line shaft arranged to be attached toa number of machines such as herein described.

TWhat is claimed is:

1'. The combination with an oscillatory riftle box, of a fuel box, and a feed trough thereabove and movable relative thereto, said trough constituting` the top of the fuel box and the trough and fuel box opening into the riflle box.

2. rlhe combination with an oscillatory riflle box; of a fuel box mounted adjacent thereto and opening thereinto, a feed trough combined with and movable relative to the fuel box and opening into the riftle box, said trough constituting the top of the fuelbox, means operated bythe riffle box for moving' the trough, and a feed hopper carried by and movable with the trough.

3. The combination with an oscillatory riflle box; of a fuel box mounted adjacent one 'end thereof and opening thereinto, a feed trough combined with and movable relative to the fuel box and opening into the rifle box, said trough constituting the top of the fuel-box, pivoted supporting hangers for the feed trough, and means upon the rille box for actuating the trough.

4. The combination with a frame, of a ritlle box mounted to oscillate therein, separate transversely extending inclined L- shaped rilfles supported within the box above the bottom thereof and connected solely at their ends, each riliie having an apertured base, there being a continuous unobstructed opening between every two adjoining riflles for the escape of values.

5. rThe combination with a frame, of a ritle box mounted for movement therein, said box having a central outlet in the bottom thereof,riflles within the box and above the bottom thereof, and series of loosely mounted pulverizing devices below the rifles and within the box, said series being disposed at opposite sides of the outlet.

(5. The combination with a frame, of a riflie box mounted for movement therein, said box having a central outlet in the bottom thereof, ritles within the box and above the bottom thereof, series of loosely mounted pulverizing devices below the rittles and within the box, said series being disposed at opposite sides of the outlet, and means above the outlet and below the rililes for preventing commingling of said series.

7. The combination with a frame; of a ritlie box mounted for movement therein and open at its ends, a relatively xed top therefor, riies within the box, a fire box, and means for directing products of combustion from the lire box and into one end of the riiie-box and below the top of the rifHe box to the other end thereof.

8. The combination with a frame, of a riille box mounted for longitudinal reciprocating movement therein, rifHes within the box and above the bottom thereof and having outlet openings there-between and extending throughout the length of the riilles, said bottom having an outlet, a hopper for receiving material from the outlet, ore grading means fed by the hopper, and means operated during the longitudinal movement of the ritlle box for simultaneously raising and lowering the opposite sides of the grading means.

9. The combination with a frame and a riflle box suspended therein for movement, of superposed amalgam plates detachably secured upon the frame, means for grading the ore and conveying the different grades directly from the box to the respective plates, and means operated during the movement of the box for imparting a sliding movement to said means and the frame and for rocking said means and frame upon their longitudinal axes.

l0. The combination with ore separating and grading means, of a tailings Conveyer comprising alternately arranged concave and convex rollers, and an endless belt supported by said rollers. x

ll. The combination with ore separating and grading mechanism, of a tailings conveyer comprising an endless belt,and spaced revoluble means for elevating the edge and middle portions of the belt out of the normal path of the belt to produce a waving movement of the belt during its longitudinal movement.

l2. The combination with a frame and a riifie-box mounted for longitudinal movement therein, of channeled rails, anti-friction devices mounted therein, runners arranged in pairs and mounted upon said devices, the runners of each pair being fixedly connected, means for retaining the runners within the channeled rails, a screen fed by the riflie box and mounted for transverse rocking movement upon the connections be. tween the runners, means for reciprocating the runners upon the anti-friction devices, and reciprocating means connected to one side of the screen for oscillating the screen transversely during the reciprocation of the runners.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EMIL F. BUSSE.

Vitnesses:

CARL HEINZE, IVALTER W. BUssE. 

